Teacher evaluation is a controversial topic. It is often thought by the general public and even some educators that once a teacher rises to a certain level there is little incentive to alter practices based on current research or training and even more alarming the ability for an administrator to terminate a teacher's contract can be difficult.
According to surveys of parents and administrators, incompetence in the teaching profession has become a major concern (Bridges 1984). On one occasion 45% of polled public school parents felt that some teachers in the local schools should be fired. In another survey school administrators estimated that 5 to 15% of their teachers performed unsatisfactorily. Yet dismissal of tenured teachers for incompetence is still relatively rare. (Ellis, 2003, p.1)
Evaluation can be seen as a mere formality put in place to ensure less questioning about funding. "...evaluation procedures risk becoming meaningless exercises for the majority of teachers who are already performing at or beyond the minimal level (McLaughlin, 1990; Searfoss & Enz, 1996). (Weiss & Weiss, 2003, p. 1)
The public views teacher evaluation as a major problem in the school system today (Soar and others, 1983). Common methods for evaluating teachers, such as measurement tests of teacher characteristics, student achievement test scores, and ratings of teachers' classroom performance, have been ineffective. (Barrett, 2003, p.1)
The proposed solution, rather than focusing on the legal strength of schools and districts to dismiss ineffective educators surrounds increasing incentive for improvement, and improving evaluation and training procedures for both successful educators and those possibly on the margins of low levels of success in the classroom.
A first step is for administrators to adopt and publish reasonable criteria for teacher performance. Not only do these criteria encourage teachers to excel, but failure to meet such criteria may provide a legal basis for dismissal. The second step is for administrators to develop a process for determining whether a teacher has adequately satisfied the criteria. (Ellis, 2003, p.1)
Ellis then goes on to express the importance of intervention and input from teachers about their specific needs and goals.
After defining a teacher's problems according to specific standards of acceptable performance, principals should work with the teacher to establish objectives and strategies for improving the teacher's performance. Future teaching behavior should be monitored carefully and measured against these objectives using observation, regularly scheduled evaluations, and continuing feedback to the teacher. (Ellis, 2003, p.1)
Though this particular example, in the above document, includes accountability for poor performance as a formative tool for teacher evaluation the concept of the development of effective and useful evaluation guidelines should be addressed through positive collaboration with educators, administrators, and student outcomes. Teachers themselves sometimes even express the lack of accessibility to prior evaluations and concern about the ability of the assessment as a research tool to improve their skill as a teacher. The importance of teacher input on the process of teacher evaluation will be discussed in this work.
Recently the Po Dunk School District teachers attended a Continuing Education Seminar presented by Po University on the subject of teacher evaluation, their use and their importance. Areas under evaluation during the seminar were: the rational, purpose, criteria, uses, planning, and organization of a teacher evaluation program. The area administrators, namely the principals of all the district schools wish to involve the teachers input on issues regarding their own evaluation process, and how it might be added to or changed to better meet the needs of teachers in their professional growth process. One of the most useful outcomes of this seminar was a compilation of ratings effecting the impact teachers feel certain questions have upon the usability of teacher evaluations as outcomes-based tools.
Based on the outcomes of the closing survey this work will serve as a research guide to explain through a literary review the outcomes of the teachers seminar process. The attendees were offered a group of eleven questions on teacher evaluation, which they ranked according to their greater understanding of the impetus and needs of the evaluation process. Of the eleven questions five were ranked highest by the teachers and teachers were assigned the responsibility, in small groups to discuss and then research the questions for better understanding and also as an outcome guide for their seminar experience.
This work is the compilation of the seminar assignment and will be distributed to attending teachers, principal organizers and also Po State presenters for use as an outcome guide for both understanding about teacher evaluation and also to serve as a work in progress for future organized continuing education...
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